Traditional electro-optical imaging payloads include an optical telescope to collect the light from the object scene and map the photons to an image plane to be digitized by a focal plane detector array. The size, weight, and power (SWaP) for the traditional imager is dominated by the optical telescope, driven primarily by the large optics, large stiff structures, and the thermal control needed to maintain precision free-space optical alignments. These factors drive the cost, which scales in relation to the optical telescope aperture radius.
Imaging systems can include lens devices providing an array of lenslets and other devices for receiving light directed from the lenslets. Lenslet arrays can be coupled to a collimator array, a waveguide device, or a photonic integrated circuit (PIC). Conventional methods of coupling generally include coupling together two large, separate bodies (substrates) with differing coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs). Such methods generally require a step of aligning the lenslet arrays and the collimator arrays to each other with a high degree of precision. Some methods of directing light can involve a chip interconnect made by angle-polishing an edge of the chip to make an internal fold mirror. Conventional inferometric imaging devices generally include multiple PIC imager assemblies that require long hours of labor to mechanically align substrates of the various assemblies.
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